NYT Article and Physical Therapy Evaluation

Mel over at stirrup queens blogged about a lovely article that really hit home with me, and so I thought I'd share it. Since we haven't heard from Stacy in a while, perhaps some of you with preemies and who work with preemies can chime in on this one.

Here's the article: For Parents on NICU, Trauma may last. One of my favorite quotes?

"Experts say parents of NICU infants experience multiple traumas, beginning with the early delivery, which is often unexpected."

The article discusses the issues parents face after leaving the NICU, including PTSD, and dispels the belief that the amount of time your child(ren) spend in the NICU correlates with the amount of trauma you suffer from the experience. Rather, your coping style partially plays a role in possible after-effects. It also states that men are more likely to suffer PTSD after the NICU than women.

Many of you know my own personal struggle with PTSD, and I started seeing a therapist that specializes in EMDR last winter to deal with my anxiety and flashbacks related to the NICU experience, and trauma of my birth experience. I am sorry to admit that with the move and diagnosis of the boys, I let my own treatment fall to the wayside. (I know, big shocker, right?!?) This article really made me realize I need to make healing a bigger priority, especially if we want to eventually try for #3.

What are your thoughts about this article. Did you suffer PTSD from your delivery or child(ren's) NICU experience? What about your significant other?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The boys had a PT eval and the shoe inserts are on order. Summy was 2 standard deviations below on the locomotor portion of the Peabody, with 1.4 overall, and Jack 1.3 overall. We'll start weekly therapy next week and so each boy will see her once every two weeks, working up to once a week as they get adjusted to her. Saturday they start their "music and art" therapy class that meets every Saturday morning. And a week from Thursday we get to go back to the sensory gyn once a week for "muscles and messes" class.

I am so sorry it's been so long since I posted a picture. I promise to try and work on it more this weekend! School's got me hoppin!